May: dedicated to Mary, the Mother of God
To All the Marian Devotees
of Mary the Queen of Heaven:
Wrap Us in Your Mantle This May
(01 May 2025)
The month of May is upon us, a month which the piety of the faithful has long dedicated to Mary, the Mother of God. Our heart rejoices at the thought of the moving tribute of faith and love which will soon be paid to the Queen of Heaven in every corner of the earth. For this is the month during which Christians, in their churches and their homes, offer the Virgin Mother more fervent and loving acts of homage and veneration; and it is the month in which a greater abundance of God’s merciful gifts comes down to us from our Mother’s Throne. (Pope Paul VI, Encyclical Letter Mense Maio: The Month of May, 1965)
Dear parishioners, as we gather in this beautiful Month of May, our hearts turn naturally to Mary, the Mother of God and our mother. Tradition calls May the “Month of Mary,” a time when the Church, in a special way, honors her for her role in salvation history and invites us to draw closer to her motherly heart.
Why May? Nature itself teaches us. In many parts of the world, May is the season when flowers bloom and creation seems to rejoice in new life. In the same way, Mary brings forth the flower of life — Jesus Christ — into the world. She is the “Mystical Rose,” as we call her in the Litany of Loreto, and her life is a constant blossoming of faith, hope, and love.
During the Month of May, the Church encourages us to offer Mary special devotions: praying the Rosary, setting up a May Altar in our homes or Churches, crowning her Statue with flowers, and deepening our trust in her intercession. Every Hail Mary we pray is like placing a beautiful flower at her feet.
But honoring Mary is not just about external acts; it is about imitating her interior life. Mary teaches us how to say “yes” to God. Her Fiat — “Let it be done to me according to your word” — is the model for our own discipleship. She teaches us humility, obedience, patience, and above all, trust in God’s promises.
In a world that often glorifies pride, noise, and self-reliance, Mary stands as a shining example of humility, silence, and total dependence on God. She tells us, as she told the servants at Cana: “Do whatever He tells you.” In every circumstance, Mary points us to Jesus, not to herself. She is not the end — she is the surest guide to Him who is our true Life and Hope.
The Month of May invites us to pause and contemplate a very moving and intimate letter written by Padre Pio of Pietralancina in May 1912, addressed to his confessor. These words open a window into the soul of a man deeply in love with the Blessed Virgin Mary — a soul saturated with humility, gratitude, and a profound sense of his own unworthiness before such maternal love. Padre Pio wrote:
“My Father, this month praises Mary’s sweetness and beauty so well! My mind thinks about the multiple benefits this dear mother did to me, and I’m deeply ashamed of myself, as I never watched her heart and hand with enough love, while she handed them to me with such goodness. Poor mother, how much she loves me. I could see that again when this month began. She accompanied me to the altar this morning with such care. It seemed like she could only think of me by filling my heart with holy affections.”
First, Padre Pio highlights the sweetness and beauty of Mary. How fitting it is that the Church dedicates the month of May to her, for nature itself seems to conspire with heaven to celebrate the blossoming of her virtues. In the freshness of spring, the flowers unfolding, the new life emerging, we see a reflection — however dim — of her immaculate soul.
Mary’s beauty is not merely physical, nor is it superficial; it is the splendor of a soul completely surrendered to God. In her, beauty and goodness are inseparably united. Padre Pio, like so many saints before and after him, was captivated by this beauty — a beauty that draws us, not to worldly pleasures, but upwards, toward God, toward holiness, toward a purity we hardly dare to imagine for ourselves.
Gratitude and the Memory of Her Benefits
Padre Pio’s letter continues by expressing deep gratitude and also shame: “My mind thinks about the multiple benefits this dear mother did to me… and I’m deeply ashamed…” Here, Padre Pio teaches us a powerful spiritual lesson: it is not enough to receive graces from Mary, or even to admire her; we must respond with a vigilant love, an attentive gratitude.